A national strike for November 20 to protest the government’s ineffective investigation in the case of 43 missing Ayotzinapa students was announced on November 12 by the Mexican Inter-university Students Assembly, chaired by the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training School “Isidro Burgos”.
The assembly, attended by students from 79 schools, decided to support the national strike summoned by the parents of the missing students.
The actions announced for November 20 include the seizure of the International Airport of Mexico City and a one-day strike at schools, companies and organisations throughout the country.
Another measure called for by the assembly is the boycott of the “Good Weekend”, an unofficial Mexican shopping holiday. The assembly urged Mexicans to not buy anything during the November 14 to 17 weekend.
The anger and frustration over the disappearance of the 43 missing students of the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College reached football fans in Amsterdam.
On November 12, during the Mexico vs Netherlands match in Amsterdam, hundreds of fans shouted “justice, justice”, carried photos of the missing 43 and took out black tissues when the match’s clock reached minute 43.
It was the first time that people demonstrated in favour of Ayotzinapa at an international sport event. It has happened before during the Mexican soccer tournament.
Both Mexicans and Dutch fans participated in the protest. The game ended Mexico 3, Holland 2.
However, it was not the only sport event which featured demonstrations in favour of the ones who disappeared on the night of September 26-27.
The assembly also called for the boycott of the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, which are taking place in Veracruz, Mexico, from November 14-30.
The boycott actions against the Central American and Caribbean Games started November 12 when students of the University of Veracruz’s Faculty of Humanities extinguished the fire of the game’s torch with buckets of water during its travel through the city of Xalapa.
The students shouted mottos such as, “We don’t want games, we want justice”.
The biggest demonstration was held at Colon Stadium, the main venue of the games that will start on November 14.
The authorities, according to local media reports, tried to “silence” the demonstrators by turning up the volume of the stadium sound when the protesters shouted. However, it only caused the spectators to laugh.
On the night of September 26-27, the local police of Iguala, Guerrero, shot at several buses carrying the Ayotzinapa students, killing three of them and another three civilians.
Then, according to authorities, the policemen “arrested” 43 students and handed them to the local gang known as United Warriors.
That gang, said the Mexican attorney-general, is controlled by the mayor of Iguala and his wife, who were recently captured by police. They are accused of being the masterminds behind the violent incidents of September 26.
[Compiled from TeleSUR English.]
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